Reactor #4 at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture began commercial operations this week. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda ordered its restart in July in spite of widespread public opposition and massive protests in the nation’s capital. Kansai Electric, which operates the Oi power plant, said it plans to run the reactor for 13 months, the legal limit in Japan before safety checks are required. At the same time, experts are warning that the plant may lie on an active fault and could be in danger of experiencing a massive earthquake. Kansai is examining seismic risk and will submit a report to the government by the end of this year.

TEPCO announced this week yet another leak of radioactive water in reactor #4 at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, as well as a fire in a storeroom. Utility officials said that the contaminated water contained 77,000 Bq/milliliter of radioactive cesium and measured one centimeter deep over 350 square meters. The fire originated in a storeroom pump where filtering equipment is stored, and was extinguished by employees. TEPCO claims that no radiation leaked into the environment during either incident. However, the incidents show the ongoing precarious state of the Fukushima reactors, where three nuclear meltdowns occurred over 17 months ago. (Source: NHK)

New research published in the journal Nature showing irreversible genetic mutations in butterflies in Japan as a result of radiation exposure from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, including dented eyes, deformed legs and antennae, stunted wings, and shortened lifespans, is raising concerns that not enough is known about the long term effects of radiation on humans. Scientists say that more studies are needed. Lead author Joji Otaki, of the University of the Ryukyus, noted, “Our findings suggest that the contaminants are causing ecological damage. I do not know its implications to humans.” The report itself cautions, "No case of acute health problems has been reported so far; however, assessment of the long-term effect of radiation requires ongoing monitoring of exposure and the health conditions of the affected communities.” Tim Mousseau, a nuclear expert from the University of South Carolina, said about the study, “Scientists have long known that radiation can be hazardous to human and animal health. Studies of this sort at Fukushima and Chernobyl provide invaluable information concerning just how hazardous radioactive contaminants could be for human populations living in these areas in the future. Butterflies as a group are important bio-indicators for the effects of environmental stressors like radioactive contaminants.”

Thank you Greenpeace. Your Fukushima work is very helpful to our attempts to stop EDF building two new EPR reactors in Somerset. Existing Hinkley Point reactors are discharging high levels of caesium, tritium, plutonium and Iodine 131; we're also seeing cardiovascular illnesses from caesium exposure, perinatal mortality and birth defects from tritium exposure, skin cancers and more leukaemias from plutonium exposure and more endocrine disruption from Iodine 131 exposure. The Fukushima victims, like us, will have been exposed to all the listed carcinogens at once; not all will become symmtomatic immediately; the genetic mutations will show up in all future generations.

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(Unregistered) Boris324
says:

NISA did not want to release information about the pending hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima plant. The fox was watching the hen house.
Have...

NISA did not want to release information about the pending hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima plant. The fox was watching the hen house.
Have any of the current workers had physicals to determine what damage, if any, has affected them? Thank you Greenpeace for all your great work.